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In the highly competitive world of information technology services, it's sometimes harder for seasoned veterans to compete with those who undercut our rates - the people we veterans in the field refer to as Pizza Petes or Lowball Louies.

Pizza Petes are just doing the work for pizza and soda (or whatever beverage they choose) money and show disregard to their income tax liability at the end of the fiscal year, as we all know, independent/self-employed I.T. technicians pay the self-employment tax in addition to their income taxes. Lowball Louies take jobs they see on platforms, like Field Nation, Work Market or Field Solutions and underbid the listed price in order to get the job. They'll see a $75 work order and will bid it down to $45 in order to get the job, with the same disregard to wear and tear on their vehicles by including mileage costs or considering tax liabilities at the end of the year.

With their disregard for job quality, you often see unprofessional jobs like these that professionals have to fix AND have to fight for our hourly rates to do the work correctly:

You at least deserve the common courtesy of a service order being done well organized, performed correctly and completed as accurately as possible before even leaving the site. The above examples show instances where a professional had to be called onsite because Pizza Pete or Lowball Louie rushed through the job and made a huge mess in the process.

The next example shows a job that was done horribly wrong (before on left) and a job completed by a professional (after on right), which proves all the more that you should hire a professional technician to handle your work for you.

It is because of a combination of issues like this and low pay that has led to previous issues on our end against Core Technology Services (Dollar General/Ingenico pinpad swap project), Indusys Technology Inc. (VIZIO HDTV repairs) and Essintial Enterprise Solutions (NCR pinpad swap project). All three disputes have been reported on, complaints filed with the Illinois Attorney General (as well as the states they operate their businesses in) and in regards to the CTS, Dollar General corporate and Ingenico have been in regular contact with me.

Don't hire a joke of a person who'll rush to complete the work and leave the job site in a huge mess. Hire a professional who will get the job done right the first time around - no second trips necessary!